Washington, 2020

Heavy Snow in Washington, November 12 to 13, 2020

November 12 to 13, 2020 · NWS PQR · 2 events in 1 county or zone

A cold front brought heavy snow to the south Washington Cascades.

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PQR wrote it up.

A cold front brought heavy snow to the south Washington Cascades.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Portland, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 12, 4:10 PM PST, 3 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 12, 4:10 PM PST, 3 hours 50 minutes before
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Event by event

2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, South Washington Cascades

When
November 12, 8:00 PM PST to November 13, 6:00 AM PST
Where
South Washington Cascades forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL

Pinto Rock SNOTEL (PINW1) measured 15 inches snowfall in 10 hours.

Heavy Snow, South Washington Cascades

When
November 12, 10:00 PM PST to November 13, 10:00 AM PST
Where
South Washington Cascades forecast zone
Reported by
SNOTEL

Surprise Lakes SNOTEL (SPLW1) measured 12 inches of snowfall in 12 hours.

What these are

Heavy Snow
Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Washington in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, November 2020

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 930903, 930902.